Etymology The adjective is first attested in 1380, in Middle English, the verb in 1540; borrowed from Latin temperātus, perfect passive participle of temperō (“to moderate, forbear, combine properly”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix). See temper. Displaced native Old English ġemetegod.
1
Moderate; not excessive.
temperate heat
He has a temperate demeanour
3 more examples
She is not hot, but temperate as the morn.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
That sober freedom out of which there springs Our loyal passion for our temperate kings.1855, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
"Even in his most temperate moments he is constantly felling people with a hunting-crop."1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 19:
2
Specifically, moderate in temperature.
These trees can only grow in temperate climates.
Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
3
Moderate in the indulgence of the natural appetites or passions
temperate in eating and drinking.
August 9, 1768, Benjamin Franklin, To John Alleyne, Esq. On Early Marriages Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy.
1 more example
I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before luncheon. But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about Gorman that I thought it well to break my rule. […] I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the more thorough-going drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a mouthful.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, pages 14–15:
4
Proceeding from temperance.
The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air.1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:
Etymology The adjective is first attested in 1380, in Middle English, the verb in 1540; borrowed from Latin temperātus, perfect passive participle of temperō (“to moderate, forbear, combine properly”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix). See temper. Displaced native Old English ġemetegod.